Cora followed the boys.
“Who’s here?” asked Jack as he entered the dining room.
“Light up!” commanded Ed. “We might step on somebody’s fingers.”
The dining-room light was soon burning. Yes, a chair had been overturned, and another!
“The flower vase is broken!” exclaimed Cora, seeing the wreck in the centre of the table.
“And I gathered those posies!” said Ed. “Just my luck!”
“Come right along, gentlemen,” invited Walter to the invisible intruders. “Come along! This way to the refrigerator!”
“Be careful, Walter,” cautioned Cora, for although she had undertaken to follow the boys she had not counted on seeing things thus upset.
“There are candles in the pantry,” suggested Ed. “I know, because I put them there, after I found the oil can in the cellar.”
Jack and Walter each lighted a candle. They then undertook a systematic search. Closets, cupboards, corners and stairways were ransacked, every door was opened and closed, to make sure no one swung on the hinges. Then the searching party went upstairs.